Tag: John Smoltz

PGA Tour Champions dives right into Q School, where some interesting names dot the tee sheets

The names include a Hall of Fame baseball player, an ex-NFL QB and the man who slugged it out with Tiger.

Just two days after crowning Steven Alker as the season-long champion, the PGA Tour Champions started its 2025 Q School.

There are three locations for the First Stage, with two of them getting underway Tuesday. The third starts next week. Final Stage is in December.

Five golfers from this year’s Q School will earn a card for 2025. Last year’s Q school winner, Cameron Percy, finished in the 36th and final spot in the Schwab standings and will return with a card next season. Shane Bertsch won a card last year and finished 31st this year, so he’ll be back in 2025 as well.

Where is PGA Tour Champions Q School?

There are three locations for the First Stage:

  • Buckhorn Springs Golf & CC, Valrico, Florida, Nov. 12-15
  • Grand Bear Golf Club, Saucier, Mississippi, Nov 12 – 15
  • Soboba Springs Golf Club, San Jacinto, California, Nov. 19-22

The final stage will be Dec. 3-6 at the Champions Course at TPC Scottsdale in Arizona. [Note: the WM Phoenix Open is played on the Stadium Course; the Epson Tour played on the Champions Course in 2024).

There are 198 players in the three fields of First Stage. There will be others who will advance directly to Final Stage based on various qualification criteria.

Notable names at PGA Tour Champions Q School

Buckhorn Springs Golf & CC

Todd Demsey, a former teammate of Phil Mickelson at Arizona State who likes to use persimmon clubs

Robert Gamez, who in 1990 as a 21-year-old rookie holed out for eagle on the 18th hole to beat Greg Norman by a shot at the Nestle Invitational at Bay Hill

Frank Lickliter II, the medalist at the 2007 PGA Tour Q School. He played 17 Champions events in 2020 but hasn’t had status since

John Smoltz, who won 213 games over a 21-year career as a pitcher, won a World Series ring with the Atlanta Braves in 1995, was National League Cy Young award in 1996 and was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2015. This is his fifth attempt at Q school.

Grand Bear Golf Club

Tag Ridings, who has two professional wins, both on the Korn Ferry Tour, which came 19 years apart

Omar Uresti, who made nearly 400 starts on the PGA Tour, where he played 11 seasons. He qualified for the PGA Championship five times between 2015 and 2021. In March, he had a cancerous lump removed from his leg.

Soboba Springs Golf Club

Jim Carter, the first individual NCAA NCAA champion at Arizona State in 1983. Has one Korn Ferry Tour win and one PGA Tour win. Joined Champions tour in 2011.

Mathew Goggin, who has five KFT wins, all coming after he lost his PGA Tour card in 2009. His mother was a golfer (she lost to Juli Inkster in the was a horse trainer

Bryan Hoops, who claims 19 holes-in-one. He’s one of 12 amateurs at First Stage.

Tommy Maddox, who was an NFL quarterback for four teams, most notably the Denver Broncos and Pittsburgh Steelers. He was the league MVP in the XFL’s only season.

Bob May, who famously traded blows with Tiger Woods in an epic PGA Championship at Valhalla in 2000

John Smoltz, Jerome Bettis among captains in new pro sports golf league

It’s no secret that athletes from the other major sports love to play golf.

It’s no secret that athletes from the other major sports love to play golf. For example, Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen has been a regular at PGA Tour events over the years, playing in various pro-ams, and the MVP candidate took part in the 2022 Match with teammate Patrick Mahomes.

But now a group of retired (and some current) athletes are taking their affection for the sport to a new level, as part of a five-tournament golf series slated to begin later this year.

The Pro Rivals Open will feature former greats from each of the four major sports, competing on teams in their respective sports. The first event is scheduled for Dec. 9-14 at Innisbrook Resort near Tampa, Florida.

The captains for the respective teams are as follows:

  • Baseball: John Smoltz
  • Football: Jerome Bettis
  • Hockey: Mike Modano
  • Basketball: Jon Barry

The three-day match play events will include doubles and singles matches and full rosters are expected to be announced soon. The circuit is owned by BW Sports and Pure Sports Holdings and was co-created with ETZEL, its management partner.

Copperhead Course. (Photo: Innisbrook Resort)

“Throughout my playing career, I always found an outlet on the golf course and when I get the chance to compete, I take advantage of it,” said Smoltz, a baseball Hall of Famer who has dabbled on the golf circuits for years. “I wanted to be a part of something that pushes me as an athlete, and The Pro does that in a new way. It will bring together some of the greatest professional athletes from across the world of sport, testing us in a completely new environment and format. This is such a unique and exciting concept, and it meets the ongoing passion and desire that we all have to compete at a high level.”

“Professional athletes of this caliber are never done competing,” said Nick Clark, the GM of the circuit. “The Pro taps into the relentless competitive drive of professional athletes and gives them an opportunity to compete at a high level in a new arena. We’re bringing some of the top athletes in the world to America’s biggest sports cities to deliver a compelling golf experience for players and fans, while making a positive impact in local communities by showcasing the transformative impacts of sports.”

Like other pro tournaments, the events will include two early week practice rounds, a tournament pro-am and three days of competition. Tickets, hospitality packages and more info are available here.

John Smoltz has ‘no more doubt’ after getting hit in the head prior to American Century Championship

Smoltz said it was the scariest trauma he has endured.

Getting hit in the head might be the jolt John Smoltz needs to win this week at Edgewood Tahoe.

Year in and year out, Smoltz has been one of the top contenders in the American Century Championship celebrity golf tournament, but he has never won at Edgewood.

But about three weeks ago, he was drilled in the forehead by an errant golf shot.

Smoltz, who played Major League Baseball for 21 seasons and is now a TV announcer for MLB, said it was the scariest trauma he has endured.

“I’ve never been hit, played a million rounds. I got hit right above the eye, 100 miles an hour. Had to go to the hospital,” Smoltz said Thursday at Edgewood. “I think what it did, it knocked out my brain of doubt. So maybe I have no more doubt. But I am very fortunate to be here. Honestly, I have been playing good as ever since I got hit in the head three weeks ago with a golf ball.”

He’s also fortunate the MLB All-Star game is next week, instead of the week before the celebrity golf tournament, as it usually is.

“Typically I fly in after the All-Star Game and try to put everything together. So I’ve been here this week, and it’s been enjoyable,” he said.

John Smoltz shares scary story about getting drilled in the face with a golf ball

“Hardest I’ve ever been hit.”

John Smoltz had a scary moment on the golf course recently, one that involved getting hit in the face with a golf ball.

On a conference call Tuesday for the American Century Championship, the annual celebrity golf bash at Lake Tahoe, the MLB Hall of Famer talked about the incident.

“First time it’s ever happened to me on a golf course,” he said. “I got hit in the head right above the eye, about 100 miles an hour. Hardest I’ve ever been hit. Very lucky, very blessed. And it’s about two weeks ago tomorrow.”

Smoltz, one of the tournament’s favorites in 2024, is a regular in the ACC. He was runner-up in both 2010 and 2021. On the Zoom conference call Tuesday, a bruise was visible on his face.

“So the only thing I really have is some hearing problems, but other than that I’m glad that’s all I’m dealing with,” said the 1996 National League Cy Young Award winner and 2015 National Baseball Hall of Fame inductee.

The American Century Championship, a made-for-TV event, will be staged for the 35th time in 2024. Steph Curry, the defending champion, will not be able to return after he announced he will play for the U.S. Olympic basketball team this summer.

Annika Sorenstam, John Smoltz and others dish on the time they did (or didn’t) drill a fan in a golf tournament

Even the best players in the world are prone to an errant shot every once in awhile.

Last month at the Valspar Championship, rookie Chandler Phillips was in contention to win his first PGA Tour event when his 4-iron at the par-3 seventh hole during the final round headed well right of the green and into a gathering of spectators.

A husband and wife were sitting next to each other and the ball beaned the wife, bouncing off her head and then smashing into the noggin of her husband, a rare two-for-one special.

When Phillips arrived on the scene he noticed he’d gotten an incredible break, his ball kicking out of trouble from a likely bogey to an easy up-and-down for par. That’s when he first saw the ice pack being applied to the husband’s head. A few yards away to the right, Phillips’s caddie, Braden Smith, spied the injured fan’s wife spread out on the ground on her back with a towel drenched in blood compressed to her head.

“Oh, my gosh, that’s not good,” he recalled thinking, and began digging into the bag to get a golf glove for his boss to sign, the go-to way for a player to say, “I’m sorry I hit you.” (Phil Mickelson was known to sign $100 bills.) “I didn’t know what else to do,” Smith said.

Phillips took the bloody scene to heart.

“After that, I wasn’t right,” he said.

Following the round, where he finished a career-best third at a Tour event, he said to the woman who suffered the direct hit, “If she’s seeing this, I’m truly sorry. Obviously I’m not meaning to do that.”

But it happens all the time at professional events. These players are good but they also aren’t immune to the stray shot. At the 2010 Memorial, Tiger Woods hit three spectators in a single day. Just this week at the RBC Heritage, Sepp Straka bloodied a spectator on the first hole at Harbour Town Golf Links and struggled to put it out of mind even if it was out sight.

“That was tough,” he said after his round. “Hopefully I’ll be able to reach out to him this afternoon and see how he’s doing.”

Smoltz: Just a bit outside

John Smoltz could throw a baseball with pinpoint precision from 60 feet, 6 inches. On the few occasions that he hit a batter, he admitted it usually wasn’t by accident.

“I’ve been given instructions to do that,” Smoltz said.

But with a golf ball, it’s a different story.

“I feel terrible if that happens,” he said ahead of playing last week’s Invited Celebrity Classic in Dallas on the PGA Tour Champions. “Luckily, I think it’s only happened one time in my life. And it happened in my very first kind of celebrity golf with Ken Green, Mark Calcavecchia and Lee Trevino. I was actually having the round of my life and I hit somebody who was walking towards the green. I was trying to reach a par five and two, and it hit him and the ball didn’t go on the green so I was a little disappointed about that. But then I saw that it hit somebody and he was laying on the ground and he ended up being OK, but yeah, that’s not a feeling I would even want to have happen.”

Andrade and a cast

Billy Andrade, a competitor in the pro portion of the Invited Celebrity Classic, has struck a couple of fans during his more than three-decade career, including a young girl in the arm at a tournament in Washington D.C.

“She came back the next day with a cast on it and asked me to sign it,” Andrade recalled. “So, of course I signed it, and I gave her like everything I had in my bag. And yeah, it happens and when it does it never feels good.”

Annika and her assistant take one for the team

World Golf Hall of Fame member Annika Sorenstam is considered one of, if not the, best ball strikers of all time. But you’d guess she would have a foul ball or two that’s pelted a fan at some point along the way, right? But Sorenstam claims that she’s never drilled a spectator in all these years.

“Knock on wood, I hope it stays that way,” said Sorenstam, who played in the celebrity division of the Invited Celebrity Classic, too. “But I’ve played in events where somebody has, and it’s not a fun thing. It makes me sick to my stomach.”

In fact, Sorenstam was playing in the LPGA’s Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions event when there was a backup on the par-5 15th hole. “I really didn’t know what was happening and then somebody said that somebody got hit around the green area. And I’m like, ‘Oh, bummer.  I hope they’re OK.’”

After they teed off, Sorenstam found out who got hit: her assistant, Crystal Davis, of all people was the victim. She was out watching her boss with Sorenstam’s daughter, Ava, and she was hit in the leg by a celebrity golfer trying to protect Ava. She succeeded in part of her objective but when her leg swelled quickly, Davis fainted.

“The ball was coming her way, so she jumped in front of (Ava), which is, you know, a case for a raise,” Sorenstam said.

Or at least worthy of an autographed $100 bill.

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Panthers great Greg Olsen nominated for another Sports Emmy

Greg Olsen is up for another Sports Emmy.

Greg Olsen is continuing his broadcasting excellence.

As announced on Tuesday afternoon, the Carolina Panthers great has been nominated for another Sports Emmy. This time, he’s up as an Outstanding Personality in the Event Analyst category.

The highly-acclaimed and well-received FOX color commentator has some strong competition for the honors. Joining the former tight end as his fellow nominees are ESPN’s Troy Aikman, NBC’s Cris Collinsworth, CBS’ Bill Raftery, FOX’s John Smoltz and FOX’s Tom Verducci.

If Olsen captures the gold here, it wouldn’t be his first victory on this stage. He won last year’s award for Outstanding Personality as an Emerging On-Air Talent—beating out the likes of Andraya Carter, Robert Griffin III, Eli Manning and JJ Redick.

But despite the recognition, Olsen is likely to take a backseat to Tom Brady—who is slated to join the NFL on FOX team as their lead color guy in 2024. Knowing that change is coming, the seven-time Super Bowl champion and three-time Most Valuable Player praised Olsen for his work back in January.

“I think Greg’s done an incredible job,” he said on The Pat McAfee Show. “I have so much respect for him, how he approaches his job. He’s super-prepared in what he does. I think he does an incredible job every time he’s on. I love listening to him.”

We do too, Tom. We do too.

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These five golfers – four of them Aussies – earned 2024 PGA Tour Champions tour cards at Q school at TPC Scottsdale

TPC Scottsdale’s Champions Course was host for the 72-hole qualifying tournament.

The PGA Tour Champions had five tour cards for 2024 up for grabs at TPC Scottsdale’s Champions Course this week.

The final stage of Q School for the senior circuit provided 78 golfers 72 holes to snag status for next season.

By Friday, 73 of those golfers came up short, including Baseball Hall of Famer John Smoltz (dead last by eight shots at 22 over), 72-year-old Dick Mast (who shot or beat his age two times this week), Notah Begay, Shaun Micheel, Ted Purdy, Carlos Franco and Bryan Hoops, the lone amateur in the field who missed out on a playoff by a stroke.

All is not lost for those who finished sixth through 30th, as they will be eligible to apply for PGA Tour Champions Associate Membership for 2024, which would then get them into qualifiers.

But for those lucky top five, they are now fully exempt into all open, full-field events for the 2024 season on the PGA Tour Champions.

Here’s a closer look at what turned out to be an Aussie takeover, with Australian golfers earning four of the five cards.

PGA Tour Champions Q school final features a former major winner, a former Major Leaguer, a Golf Channel analyst and a 72-year-old

Smoltz will be vying for one of five cards that will be handed out at TPC Scottsdale.

Baseball Hall of Famer John Smoltz is among the 78 golfers who earned a spot in the final stage of qualifying for the PGA Tour Champions.

Smoltz, 55, will be vying for one of five cards that will be handed out at the end of the week at TPC Scottsdale’s Champions Course.

Smoltz won 213 games over a 21-year career as a pitcher. In three previous attempts at Q school, he hasn’t finished better than tied for 54th in the first stage.

Smoltz won a World Series with the Atlanta Braves in 1995. He won the National League Cy Young award in 1996. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2015.

He hasn’t competed on PGA Tour Champions since 2021, but he has played in nine events overall, including the 2018 U.S. Senior Open.

Other notables/hopefuls at TPC Scottsdale this week include:

  • NBC/Golf Channel reporter Notah Begay III, back at qualifying for a second year in a row
  • Former Arizona State golfer Todd Demsey, who likes to use persimmon clubs
  • Shaun Micheel, whose lone PGA Tour win was the 2003 PGA Championship
  • Ted Purdy, who grew up down the I-10 in Tucson and went to the University of Arizona
  • 54-year-old amateur Bryan Hoops of Scottsdale, who claims 19 holes-in-one, with 15 of them coming in tournaments
  • Jonathan Kaye, who won two PGA Tour events, including the 2004 FBR Open (now the WM Phoenix Open) at the TPC Scottsdale’s Stadium Course
  • 72-year-old Dick Mast, who’s played in 360 PGA Tour events and another 191 Champions events without a win. He does have four victories on the Korn Ferry Tour, the most recent in 1999. He got in the field at the last minute after Andrew Marshall withdrew

The first tee times are Tuesday at 8:30 a.m. local (10:30 a.m. ET). Smoltz is playing alongside Daniel Chopra and Jason Bohn at 8:52 a.m. local time off the first tee. The event concludes on Friday. Admission is free for anyone interested in attending.

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MLB Hall of Famer John Smoltz earns spot in Final Stage of PGA Tour Champions Q-School

Smoltz hadn’t finished better than T-54 in three prior appearances at the first stage of PGA Tour Champions Q-School.

From the mound to the golf course, John Smoltz is proving to be a heckuva athlete.

The Major League Baseball Hall of Famer earned a spot into final stage qualifying through PGA Tour Champions Q-School after finishing T-14 at this week’s first stage at Buckhorn Springs in Valrico, Florida. Smoltz posted scores of 71-73-74-71, finishing at 1-over 289 for the week, to earn one of 18 spots into final stage qualifying.

Smoltz hadn’t finished better than T-54 in three prior appearances at the first stage of PGA Tour Champions Q-School.

Smoltz, 55, will be in the field of 80 next month at TPC Scottsdale’s Champions Course, where final stage will be contested Dec. 5-8. Only five cards are up for grabs.

Slowly, Smoltz has been making a name for himself on the golf course after his illustrious baseball career. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2015, won a Cy Young Award and earned eight National League All-Star team selections.

Smoltz hasn’t competed on PGA Tour Champions since 2021, but he has competed in nine events overall. He also competed in the 2018 U.S. Senior Open.

Chipper Jones hilariously roasted John Smoltz’s agonizing reaction to getting hit by a pitch in 1996

Can’t stop laughing.

The Atlanta Braves typically have a television broadcast booth of Brandon Gaudin and Jeff Francoeur. But for Wednesday’s series finale against the New York Mets, they brought back the unconventional players only booth, and it didn’t disappoint.

They even had John Smoltz showing some personally.

The booth included former Braves Chipper Jones, Brian McCann, Tom Glavine, Smoltz and Francoeur. And at one point during the game, the broadcast brought up a clip of Smoltz getting hit by a pitch from Mark Thompson in a 1996 game against the Rockies. Now, no matter the era, it’s never fun to get hit by a big-league pitch. But Smoltz didn’t exactly show off a high pain tolerance there.

As Smoltz tried to argue that the took the pitch to the kidney, Jones just went ahead and roasted his former teammate. “Does the tuna! So, this is what the tuna looks like,” Jones said as the rest of the booth laughed along.

And in case you were wondering, Smoltz was totally fine after that hit by pitch. He struck out 10 in 8.1 innings, and the Braves won that game, 8-3.

Fans loved everything about that clip.